SimpliVity Version Jumping During Upgrade

[Steven Clementi]

Has anyone been in a situation where you need to upgrade an older deployment, but the firmware is not supported on the new OmniStack version, and the new firmware is not supported on the old Omnistack Software?

I have a 3 node SimpliVity Gen10 cluster running 6.5 with 3.7.7.

We want to go to Omnistack 4.0.0 which the documentation states it is capable of a direct upgrade.  There is no firmware that supports both versions so it is necessary to jump to lets say 3.7.9 first after upgrading the firmware to SVTSP-2019 0315.04 levels? then upgrade Omnistack to 4.0.0 and upgrade to firmware again wto SVTSP-2019 1216.01?

Must I do the same with vCenter and ESXi? jump to 6.5U2ep13 (ESXi) first (currently at 6.5 U2b), and vCenter 6.7 U1b, then after upgrading Omni to 4.0.0, upgrade vCenter and ESXi again?

Just don't want to have a support issue.  Planning on pre-upgrading vCenter and would rather go direct to the most current supported for 4.0.0, but the compatibility shows it is unsupported for 3.7.7.  Is this just a HPE support stance where generally speaking, they will not support the configuration except during an upgrade period? (usually a 1 or 2 weeks time frame based on other upgrades I've done with HPE hardware)

I'll likely just open a support call to be on the safe side just in case something arises, but please let me know your experiences...

[AnkiN]

Hi @Steven Clementi 

Good day..
We have seen few secanrios where the OVC upgrade fails if the ESXi or the vCenter build are to higher or way old.

The upgarde plan has to be made by taking all the pparameters in mind such as the curent firmware, ESXi, vCenter Build & the OVC target release.

As you stated that the OVC upgrade to the latest code might seems to support but the firmware don't so we need to be at certain firmware which is going to support current OVC Release & Target OVC Release and the ESXi build.

I would suggest to log a support case and get the plan or check with concerned team who perform the upgrade and validate how they prepare these plan.

Once you reach to that state check for the other depended parameters and proceed accoridingly. As jumping to a higher supported build might lead to the faled upgrades.

[masterzen]

The interop guide explains any particular upgrade paths needed. Typically this is more important with much older versions. You should not have any issues upgrading the firmware and code levels from 3.7.7 to 4.0

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-a00090815en_us

[JMarchy]

Don't jump that far. From what I have been told by support, there are some major backend revisions in 3.7.9 and 4.0.0 that do not play well together when going from further back. I am currently still working with support on an attempt to go from 3.7.7 to 3.7.10 that failed using the upgrade manager. The hosts will no longer update with the manager or manually without a ton of support effort involved.

I would suggest doing everything to 3.7.9, then to 4.0.0, manually, Firmware->Esxi->Arbiter->Plugin->OVC->Commit. Support was telling me the addition of the firmware upgrading has added some bugs to the Upgrade Manager client.

[Steven Clementi]

Thanks for the replies and experience, I just wanted to follow up and update the thread...

I ended up opening a case with support to confirm my particular upgrade plan which is 9 steps....

Upgrade vCenter --> firmware --> hypervisor --> Omnistack(3.7.9) --> firmware again --> Omnistack again (4.0.0) --> vCenter again --> hypervisor again --> finally firmware again.

We did run into an issue with the plug-in that you should be aware of.  This is a known issue with vCenter 6.7.x and not with OmniStack: https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=mmr_sf-EN_US000060893

I must impress upon you that of the 2 work-arounds, only the first one (open the consoles of the OVC's and refresh your vCenter browser session) is recommended.

Last update in a few days once the upgrade is complete, but to address the concerns of @JMarchy , I did end up manually updating firmware (I.E. not using the Update Manager).  I got all the way thru 4.0.0 without any issues.

Again, thanks all for the replies!!!